Next Webinar - with Cognigy, Agentic AI

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Agentic AI is arguably the hottest trend in AI, especially for the contact center, and if you need to get up to speed - especially for CX leaders - you’ll want to join us on April 24. The webinar is being hosted by TMCnet’s CUSTOMER Magazine, with Erik Linask moderating.

I’ll be in conversation with Cognigy’s Alan Ranger, and we’ll be covering the latest developments, along with how agentic AI is being used to great effect today. We’ll also share learnings from Cognigy’s recent Nexus 2025 conference, where several success stories were shared for both agentic and conversational AI.

We hope you’ll join us - it’s at 2pm ET on April 24 - and details to register are here.

8x8 Analyst Summit - Photo Highlights

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Been going full-out since back from last week’s 8x8 analyst event in Southampton, UK. I’ve written an extensive review on the BCStrategies website, which has just been updated, so that’s another reason to go visit.

My review just went live - read it here - and before doing that, I’ll share some of my photos from the event, along with some social time while there. I hope you enjoy these, along with my review of the event.

Below - CMO Bruno Bertini and CEO Sam Wilson

Hunter Middleton and Fabio Ramos

At the harborside hotel, and an obligatory Guinness at the soccer match

Customer panel, onsite at the stadium; some images from their new branding

Partner panel, executive Q&A panel near the end of the event

More social - at the soccer stadium, pub stop with Blair Pleasant, followed by dinner with Simon Harrison

Inside the stadium before the game, and the marching band outside - loved it

March Writing Roundup

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Was a busy month with event travel, plus planning for an even busier April. As summarized in my April newsletter, I did a lot of video segments, and public-facing writing was limited - here’s the summary.

Enterprise Connect 2025 - Photo Review and Media Summary, JAA blog, March 28

Cognigy Nexus 2025 - Quick Take and Pix, JAA blog, March 26

The Death of the Desk Phone?, Aizan blog, March 10

What is a Hybrid Meeting?, TechTarget, will publish in early April

Cognigy Nexus 2025 - Quick Take and Pix

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Coming out of back-to-back events, I’m behind on, well, just about everything.

Two weeks ago, I attended Cognigy’s Nexus 2025 event in Dusseldorf, where the company’s HQ is. This is their customer event to showcase their technology, and more importantly, the kind of successes their customers are having with AI-driven CX. Pretty impressive, and I don’t think anyone is doing it better at the moment.

Too much time has passed for an in-depth writeup, but if you follow my LinkedIn posts from the event, you’ll have a pretty good sense of that. I’m also doing a webinar next month with Alan Ranger about all this - details coming soon.

In lieu of that - and for the record - here are some of my photos from the event, both for the sessions, and the social side of being there. Loved the experience, and can’t wait to go back!

Below - opening welcome from Alan Ranger; CEO and co-founder, Philipp Heltewig; Kane Simms doing the final keynote talk on the impact of AI on automation

Customer demos and success stories from DHL, Bosch and Santander. Each would make for a great case study - all were quite different, but tangible results, both for ROI and improving CX.

Another customer session - Skoda; presentation from Metrigy sharing some new CX research; and a technical breakout from Deepgram, a company I’ve followed for some time.

As seen when arriving at Dusseldorf airport - can’t-miss-advertising, right off the plane - love it. Upstairs view of the venue for the conference - was twice the size from last year - another indication for how well the company is doing.

Customer panel, and a vendor panel, led by Jarrod Davis on the theme of AI or Die

When in Germany - outing to Fuchschen - one of seven bars that brew their own Altbier - a special type of beer that Dusseldorf is known for - why would you drink anything else?

Some old-town flavor, by day and by night

With Nicolas Ehrlacher, RingCentral and Jessica Gopalakrishnan, Cognigy; Amy Stapleton from Opus Research; my beer!

Out with folks from 8x8, and colleague/he’s-everywhere, Dave Michels

VR demo with Lufthansa, checking out what flying first class kinda looks like (pretty good idea for upselling, actually!); Victor Belfor from 8x8 and that Dave again; riverfront walk by the Rhine - that’s a first for me.


Podcast with PolyAI - Agentic AI and Customer Experience

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Got a few posts to catch up on for sharing after travel to back-to-back events the past two weeks. This one is for the latest Tech Transformed podcast with EM360. For this episode, I interviewed Nikola Mrksic, CEO of PolyAI, talking about AI’s impact on customer experience and the contact center.

It’s a broad topic for sure, and yes, we touched on the trend-du-jour, agentic AI, among other things. If you missed it earlier, here’s the link, and I hope you give it a listen.

Time for March Newsletter and Podcast Editions

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Things are a week off-schedule this month, but the March editions are now out.

If you’re not a subscriber, signing up to my newsletter is easy - JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - the signup page is here.

For my Watch This Space podcast, you can subscribe on all the major platforms, or listen to any episode directly here on my website, or here on the dedicated WTS website.

This month’s podcast was a recap of the Future of Work Expo, which was the main focus for me last month. There were lots of interesting takeaways, and to hear all about it, you can listen to the episode here.

RingCentral Analyst Summit - Quick Take and Photos

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Am back now from RingCentral’s 2025 Analyst Summit, and it was time well-spent. Hosted at the upscale Bardessono hotel in Yountville - the heart of Napa - the setting was more than comfortable, making the almost two-hour drive from SFO a small inconvenience. More importantly was the intimate setting with a small group of analysts and pretty much all the key people we need to know and hear from at RingCentral.

Momentum is strong on many fronts, and it adds up to continued growth through 2025. There were many updates to keep track of, most notably:

There were other updates of note as well, but I’m not doing a full-on review here. I posted commentary and photos regularly during the sessions on my LinkedIn feed, and with longer analysis coming on two video segments.

One is with UC Today on their Big UC News roundup, and another is a similar roundup with our group at BCStrategies. Both should run publicly next week or soon after, and I’ll share the links in case you don’t catch them.

To complement those takeaways, here are some of my photos, some of which you may have seen in isolation from my LinkedIn posts.

Below - nice overview visuals here. It’s easy to forget that RingCentral has been going for 25 years, and the first photo is a great timeline for their innovations and milestones. Second visual emphasizes a key message from the event - they have a complete, “multi-product portfolio”, and have a come a long way from from being a VoIP provider.

Some of the bright stars on their team, ball-hockey guy/MC/Mr. Canada - Amir Hameed, Kira Makagon, and Kristen Koenig (from their Hopin acquisition - another good growth story)

Zane Long leading the partner panel; RingCentral brain trust for the Exec Q&A, including Vlad Shmunis

More smart people, especially on the AI front - Jim Dvorkin, Dr. Antonio Nucci, John Finch

AI Receptionist demo (hard to see, but the 8 avatars on the screen represent the different personas that AIR can take on); the Two Mikes - Mike Stowe and Michael Brandenburg talking about what makes their platform distinct.

Thought you’d never ask - the hotel was right out of Central Casting for what you’d expect in Napa; world-famous, we-are-not-worthy French Laundry restaurant; and of course, an organic lemon tree in the garden area of the property.

This is how you do Zen at Bardessono; the personalized welcome screen in my room - nice touch, and it’s fair to say this hotel gets it with CX.

Enterprise Connect - Speaking Update

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Enterprise Connect 2025 is about three weeks away, and I’ll be there for just about all of it. My calendar is getting pretty full for meetings and briefings, and if you wanted to meet, please get in touch ASAP - jon@jarnoldassociates.com. No promises at this point, but nothing to lose for trying.

If you don’t know, I’ve been presenting a state-of-the-market update on speech tech for the enterprise during the past seven years, but we’re moving on now to other things. During that time, I’ve certainly gained a deep understanding of where speech tech is going for businesses beyond the contact center - especially of course, for how AI is driving this in ways we couldn’t have imagined a few years ago. I still work closely with vendors on this topic, and if it’s a space you need some help in, feel free to reach out.

In terms of speaking, I’ll be a panelist on two sessions, both on Thursday.

First, at 10am, is a session on the “future of the workplace” - details here. Having recently run my Future of Work Expo tracks at ITExpo, this is a topic I’m well-versed in, and will share some of these perspectives on this panel.

Next is the Locknote session at 11:15am, which closes out Enterprise Connect. The format is to hear collective perspectives on the event - and the year ahead - from analysts and consultants. This is my first time being on the Locknote, and will be in pretty good company, namely Sheila McGee-Smith, Dave Michels, Brent Kelly, and Steve Leaden - details here.

Finally, as a speaker, I get to offer a discount code on registration, so if you want to save $400, use promotion code ARNOLD400. Hope you can use it, and if so, you can buy me a coffee there!

Future of Work Expo Recap - Photos and Media Coverage

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I’ve been Chair of the Future of Work Expo for eight years now, and as technology evolves, the future of work is always interesting. Last week’s 2025 edition went to plan, and we had a solid roster of speakers, a timely mix of topics, and an attentive audience.

During the event, I posted photos and commentary regularly on LinkedIn, so you’ll have to check out my feed to pick up on that. At this point, I’m not going to write anything more, and instead will share some photo highlights, along with media coverage in the form of articles about specific sessions, covered by Future of Work News.

First, here are the writeups from FOW News:

Now for the photos.

There are too many speakers from the panels to cite here, but you can find them all on the Agenda page. Unfortunately, Squarespace isn’t letting me insert a hyperlink now, so here’s the URL - www.futureofworkexpo.com/agenda.aspx.

Below - I, Robot - the future of work? Very cute! Next - Day 1 program, and me with Mr. TMC, Rich Tehrani.

My opening keynote, joined by special guest, Jeff Pulver.

Glenn Goldberg moderating the panel on AI Business Transformation, and John Stafford with the panel on the Changing Role of IT with FOW. Thanks guys!

With Hardy Myers of Cognigy; thumbs way up with Justin Robbins of Metric Sherpa; Khurum Shafi of Twilio, with his souped-up BlackBerry (yup!) to record the session on the evolving role of the contact center.

Moderating panels on the evolving role of contact centers with FOW, and how UCaaS is driving the FOW.

Nice roundup representing SCTC attendees - Vern Fernandez of Jabra, myself, Tom Brannen of OnConvergence, Bill Magnuson of NexusBlue, and Dave Clardy of Mitel. Next - from my UCaaS panel, with Leo Boulton of Zoom, and Luiz Domingos of Mitel.

With Jeff Pulver; Harry Chapin and his classic hit, Taxi. Sorry folks, but you had to be at my keynote to get what this has to do with the future of work.

Panel of AI Innovation and FOW Skills Gaps; and Employee Engagement session.

With Brett Shockley of Journey; reprising my keynote talk in the Solutions Theater on the showfloor; speaking during opening session.

Thanks to those who took many of these photos - too many to credit here. Also, still to come - some video clips of me being interviewed by Rich Tehrani, by Tom Brannen, and a clip from my keynote talk.

Finally, if you like what you see, I’d love to tell you more about the event. It’s never too early for me to start planning for 2026, so if you want to speak, moderate, sponsor or exhibit - or just share your thoughts about the future of work - I’m not hard to find!

New Month - Time for New Watch This Space Podcast and Newsletter

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The February editions of my podcast and newsletter were published yesterday, and I hope you check them out. If you’re not a subscriber, signing up to my newsletter is easy - JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - the signup page is here.

For my Watch This Space podcast, you can subscribe on all the major platforms, or listen to any episode directly here on my website, or here on the dedicated WTS website.

The current episode is an excess review of all the excess around AI at the moment. Inspired by DeepSeek’s entry into the fray, we started there, then moved on to various forms of deepfakes that pose all kinds of risk to just about everything we do.

As always, we framed this through our analog lens, a perspective that digital natives lack, and we feel provides some levity to all this. Chris and I didn’t stop there, and to get the whole story, you can listen to the February episode here.


Getting Past the AI Hype - My Latest Contact Center Pipeline Article

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I’ve been a guest contributor to Contact Center Pipeline for some time, as well as being a member of their Advisory Board.

Getting Past the AI Hype is my latest article, running now in the January 2025 edition.

There’s great content in the current issue, which covers a lot of ground for the big themes and challenges facing contact centers in 2025. I hope you read my article, and here’s the link to explore the rest of the issue. If you like what you see, you can easily sign up for free to get the digital edition.

A good starting point would be long-time colleague Brendan Read’s overview - What Will 2025 Bring for Contact Centers? It’s a compilation of insights from various thought leaders - myself included - thanks - and here’s the link to read it. Plenty to digest in this issue, and am sure the CCP folks would love to hear from you.

Next Webinar - with NICE - AI, Automation and the Customer Journey

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I’ve been working on a few fronts with NICE about this topic, and we have a webinar coming up on Dec. 12 to talk it through. I’ll be leading with a presentation, and will be in conversation with Elizabeth Tobey. We make a good team, and hope you can join us! Details are here, along with the registration form to attend.

New Research Report - Consumer Attitudes Toward Contact Center Queues

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You may not know that I’m a market researcher by trade, and have been a practitioner for 30+ years. Most analysts do not have this skill set, and I find it a great way to enhance my thought leadership engagements.

I just completed one of these with Aizan Technologies, a vendor I’ve been working with for some time. The topic was contact center queues, or in more ordinary parlance, the on-hold experience. This happens to all of us when trying to get customer service, and it usually ends badly. There’s actually an opportunity here as part of the overall customer experience, but with no research out there to speak of, we went ahead and did our own study.

Aizan is the sponsor, and I did the rest, along with my field partner, Quest Mindshare. The findings are pretty rich, and Aizan has created a really nice, highly-consumable summary report. You need to register to get the study, and here’s the link for that.

I’ll be writing an article with my follow-on take soon, so keep watch for that. Also - of course - there’s no better way to tell your story than having proprietary research of your own, and if that’s on your 2025 roadmap, we should talk.

November Writing Roundup

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Am a bit behind on things, being away most all last week for Thanksgiving, and how month-end fell on the calendar for November. Did a lot more video than writing last month, but here’s the roundup of public posts.

Talkdesk Analyst Summit - my takeaways, on LinkedIn, Nov. 25

Pros and Cons of a Hybrid Contact Center Architecture, TechTarget, Nov. 14

NICE Analyst Summit Takeaways (ICYMI, being month-end), No Jitter, Oct. 29

Talkdesk Analyst Summit - Photos and 3 Takeaways

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Last week was my first visit to Charleston, SC, and the first Talkdesk Analyst Summit since 2019. Lots to catch up on, and it was time well-spent. Below are some photos from the sessions, along with our outings to explore Charleston. To complement the photos, I’ve posted my takeaway highlights here on LinkedIn.

Below - CEO/Founder Tiago Paiva, Neville Letzerich.

Andy Flynn, Pedro Andrade and Chad Anderson doing a demo.

Memorial Healthcare customer session, welcome signs from current and previous events.

Mills House - our hotel and event venue - Charlie - one of the greeters. Some Southern hospitality in my room.

Moody moonshot, love the iron work at City Market, and during a dinner, they had a fragrance bar, where we got to choose our own scents, and they whipped that up into our personal perfumes to take home. Ooh la la…

Speaking of ooh la la - Benne’s Bakery, with their famous Ultimate Coconut cake, stacked high for all to see, and my own slice along with a sweet cocktail. More of the same at Lenoir, with another sweet and yummy cocktail. Sugar is kinda a big thing here, yup.

Next Stop - Talkdesk - Charleston, SC

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Today I’m off to Talkdesk’s analyst event - it’s been a few years since the last one, so there’s a lot of catching up to do. Am keen to get the latest updates and roadmap, and will post on LinkedIn as time allows during the event - hashtag is #TalkdeskAnalystSummit. Never been to Charleston - that will be a treat, so it should be a pretty good next few days.

NICE Analyst Summit 2024 - Photos from Zambia, Review on No Jitter

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Last week was definitely a bucket-list trip, courtesy of NICE, to attend their Analyst Summit in Zambia. That’s as exotic as it gets in my world, and am still buzzing from the experience - not just the content, but being surrounded by nature that urbanites hardly ever see. Every day was a new adventure, and whatever I can share now is just a fraction of the whole thing.

I’ll keep this short, and here I’m just sharing two sets of my photos - from the event itself, and from what I would call the Zambia experience - and the rest I’ll leave to your imagination (or if we’re connected on Facebook, I’ll be sharing lots more there).

Complementing that is my review of the event, which I’ve distilled into three themes - windmills, profitability and termites. A bit strange, I know, but it all hangs together, and you can read it here on No Jitter.

As always, comments and sharing are welcome, and I’ll likely have a small coda coming in the November newsletter next week.

First, some photos from the event:

CEO Barak Eilam, and AR leader and Head of Global Corporate Comms, Chris Irwin-Dudek

Fantastic opening with a children’s choir to sing the Zambian national anthem, with that week being their 60th Independence Day - pretty special. Next - one of several very creative visuals to showcase various success metrics, weaving in images from our various Analyst Summit locales - this one showing their revenue stat of $2.78 billion paired with last year’s Machu Picchu visit.

Gotta show a few regular slides - Hyper Platform - this is their next-level vision for how AI is helping enterprises get better outcomes, and for software vendors to evolve to meet those needs. Next - visual for 4 stages of NICE’s evolution that brings them to this vision.

Elizabeth Tobey and Neeraj Verma getting into the details.

Exec Q&A with Barry Cooper, Einat Weiss and Barak Eilam; and a farewell toast moment marking the fast-approaching end to Barak’s tenure as CEO.

Next - a few photos to give you a flavor for the Zambia experience - wow, huh?

Next Stop - NICE Analyst Summit - Destination...

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NICE doesn’t do anything in half-measures. If you follow me, you’ll know that they keep raising the bar each year, and clearly, they value what analysts bring to the table. Being a public company, they're pretty transparent about things, and if they choose to take us to an exotic location - not just to share their roadmap, but to nurture important relationships - so be it. With that backdrop, they’re taking us to….

Zambia. You heard right - Zambia. I’ll leave it to your imagination and Google searches to figure out what that might look like, and am sure it will be all of that and then some. As always, I’ll share updates and photos as time allows, and a whole lot more once back. Time to pack now…

October - New Leaf, New Podcast and Newsletter

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It’s a new month - the latest editions of both my newsletter and podcast are out now - JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, and my Watch This Space podcast, now in its 7th season.

If you’re not a subscriber, signing up to my newsletter is easy - JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - the signup page is here.

For my Watch This Space podcast, you can subscribe on all the major platforms, or listen to any episode directly here on my website, or here on the dedicated WTS website.

October starts the busy season for industry events, so Chris and I covered where our travels have been - and will be - taking us. Lots to discuss, but we also covered the usual gamut of interesting things like why 8-Track was a superior technology in its day, why mandating return-to-office is risky business, and reviewing our latest updates for the podcast. Hope you check it out, and subscribe to my newsletter.

Glenn Goldberg's Parallel Universe Podcast - My Guest Spot

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You know it’s going to be a fun podcast when I get to quote one of my favorite lines from Seinfeld - “It’s not a lie… if you believe it.” As Homer would say, it’s funny because it’s true. If that’s your vibe, then I think you’ll really enjoy this podcast - my first guest spot on Glenn Goldberg’s Parallel Universe podcast.

We could go on all day long about tech, sports, music and all kinds of other things. Maybe we’ll go further on those threads next time, but right now, you should just check it out. Here’s the link for viewing it on Telecom Reseller, inclulding the transcript, or you can watch it here on YouTube.